Thank you for visiting our forum. As a guest, you have limited access to view some discussion and articles. By joining our free community, you will be able to view all discussions and articles, post your own topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload photos, participate in Pick'Em contests and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today!!

In the 52 months since Bon Appétit declared Sriracha “Ingredient of the Year,” much has changed in the world of Sriracha, and of spicy food in general. Back in late 2009, Sriracha—meaning, of course, Huy Fong Foods brand Sriracha, the bright-red chili sauce in the green-capped squeeze bottle—was still, in many ways, a novelty. Though Americans had been squirting it on noodles, eggs, and pizza for roughly 30 years, it was hardly a mainstream condiment, and the idea that high-end restaurant chefs would incorporate it into their cooking was essentially revolutionary.

Today, however, Sriracha is ubiquitous. Never mind its presence in Asian restaurants and hip diners—you’ve got Brooklyn chefs cooking up artisanal batches, BusinessWeek publishing in-depth features on its maker, and giants like Lays and Subway adding it to their unquestionably mainstream products, never mind that the word “sriracha” does not always roll smoothly off the tongues of English speakers.

Which is why last year BonAppetit.com inaugurated—invented, really—Sriracha Week. We were fascinated by Sriracha’s origins, by the panoply of “other” Sriracha sauces, by the way that familiar bottle had wormed its way inside American visual culture. Oh, and we had a ton of fun ways to cook with it! Thus, a theme week was born.

But as we approached the anniversary of that, uh, monumental week, and began brainstorming what a second Sriracha Week might hold, we faced a dilemma: Was there anything left to say about Huy Fong’s iconic rooster sauce? With Sriracha in Subway sandwiches, had it jumped the shark? Shouldn’t we be out there finding other amazing hot sauces—the next Srirachas?